About Us
“If there is anything more fundamental than a decent start in life, I wonder what it could be.”
- David A. Hamburg, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
Spartanburg County First Steps Board supports "a decent start in life" for children aged birth to 5 by attending to student success in school through these quality programs that work.
Parenting
Coordinates parent education in the county with monthly training, creating and submitting county data reports to Parents as Teachers and funding 4 parent educators in Family Literacy sites in Spartanburg County Districts 2,4,5,7. Manages Imagination Library in the county in distributing an average of 6,000 books a month to children ages birth to 5 years in Spartanburg County, partnering with the United Way of the Piedmont as funders of the project. Spartanburg County is the 9th largest distributor of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in the nation.
Early Education
Early Head Start, serving 120, children aged birth to 3, with comprehensive services.
Quality Childcare Initiative
The Quality Childcare Initiative, supported by the Mary Black Foundation, provides educational opportunities, technical assistance and mentoring to child development centers in Spartanburg County. The Quality Institute provides training and mentoring for child development directors and their staff to increase their knowledge of quality care and education for children birth to 5 years old. The program includes monthly director meetings, early childhood conferences, specialized training and classroom makeovers to create age-appropriate learning environments.